


(Heart)broken

by Eggling



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (1963)
Genre: Gen, could be read as having background Two/Jamie, mild blood/mentioned violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-17
Updated: 2018-02-17
Packaged: 2019-03-20 06:52:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,206
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13712262
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eggling/pseuds/Eggling
Summary: “I’ll always come and find him if he’s in trouble. Always. A few wee scratches won’t stop me, and he knows that.”In which Jamie is desperate to rescue the Doctor.





	(Heart)broken

“Jamie!” Zoe caught him as he fell through the doorway, holding him up. “How did you get back here?” She looked down at her hands, already stained with blood, then back up at Jamie. Her eyes widened as she took in his torn shirt, the gash on his arm, his bruised and bloodied chest, the puncture hole in his thigh. “How are you still _standing_?”

“Doesnae matter,” Jamie whispered hoarsely. Someone pushed a crate towards him, and he stumbled forwards, falling before he reached it. He grasped at the edge desperately, trying and failing to haul himself up onto it. “They took the Doctor.”

“Never mind that now.” One of the warehouse workers broke out of their collective terrified trance, stepping forwards and dabbing at a cut on his forehead with her sleeve. “There’s nothing we can do. Where does it hurt the most?”

“ _Everywhere_ hurts,” Jamie snapped out from between gritted teeth, batting her hands away. At last, he managed to drag himself upright and sit on the crate. “It doesnae matter, I don’t care, they took the Doctor -”

“Shh, don’t think about it. You need to rest.”

“I don’t want to rest!” Jamie shoved the girl away. “Sorry,” he added a moment later, distantly aware that he had pushed her to the floor. She nodded, scurrying away to duck into the crowd. The others stared at him, half in fascination, half in horror. He must have looked like some bloodstained apparition, Jamie thought with a twinge of grim amusement. Well, he had come to predict their deaths. “Don’t ye understand? They took the Doctor!” Rows of impassive faces stared back at him. “They – they caught us, just like that, they knew where we were, and they took him away!” Still that maddening silence. He drew in a deep breath, steadying himself, trying to sound as determined and authoritative as possible. “We have tae get him back.”

“I’m sorry,” one of the boys said quietly. He could not have been more than thirteen or fourteen. Jamie felt sick to his stomach at the thought. They were children, all of them, plunged into a war they had no say in and could not hope to win, and the Doctor could not save them. The Doctor was gone. This was no fairytale, it was a nightmare. “I know he was your friend. But – none of us would be alive if we tried to go back and save our friends. They’d kill us all.”

“He would’ve _saved_ us all. I’m no’ just being selfish.” Jamie spat blood out of his mouth. “They knew that. That’s why they took him, and why we have tae rescue him.” He turned to Zoe, eyes wide and pleading, grasping at her sleeve. “Zoe – ye understand, don’t ye? Ye know we don’t stand a chance without him.”

To his dismay, she shook her head, stepping away from him. “I don’t know,” she said. “Maybe he could’ve saved us, but he’s gone, Jamie. If he’s not dead already, he would be by the time we reached him, even if we could break into their camp.” She gestured to him. “Look what they did to you.”

“I don’t care what they did to me -”

Ignoring him, Zoe shepherded the workers away from the door and further into the warehouse. “He’s grieving,” she said softly. “He’ll be alright, I hope. But he loved the Doctor very much, so it’ll take a while.”

“I loved my brother,” one of the workers piped up. “But he’s gone.” He shrugged. “That’s just how life is here.”

The others nodded, more understanding than children ought to be. Each of them had lost someone, Jamie thought. He knew that look well – knew it from his own childhood, and knew from the Doctor that it was _wrong_. That word seemed to echo through the whole situation, pulling him away from reality and making him feel like he was walking in a dream. It was wrong that these children were so unconcerned about dying and it was wrong that the Doctor was gone and it was wrong that Zoe had given up on him, but he did not know what he could do to fix it -

“I’ll go myself, then,” he said, almost without realising it. “Someone has tae save the Doctor.” He tried to stand up, but his legs shook uncontrollably under his weight, and he crumpled to the floor again. A fresh trickle of blood oozed out of his side, and he watched it almost disinterestedly, slightly stunned by his fall.

“Not in that state, you’re not,” Zoe said. She hurried over to pull him back onto the crate, pressing down on his shoulders as if he was a small child who was likely to wander off. Glancing around at the workers, she lowered her voice. “Look, you need time to recover. Once you’re well again, we’ll figure out a plan.”

“We don’t have time.” Again, Jamie tried to stand, but Zoe was determined, and too strong for him to fight against. “Please, Zoe. We need him. _I_ need him.”

“Jamie -” Zoe sighed. “We don’t have time for heroism right now. We’ve already lost the Doctor, we don’t need to lose you too.”

“I’m no’ trying tae be a hero, I’m trying tae be hopeful.”

“We don’t have time for optimism, either!” He was surprised by the forcefulness in her voice. “The Doctor can look after himself, and he told us to stay here and take care of these people. What do you think he’d want you to do? Kill yourself trying to rescue him, or do as you’re told?”

“If I know one thing, it’s that the Doctor will expect me tae come and find him. He’ll probably be counting on it.”

“Jamie, listen -”

“No, you listen.” Jamie’s voice was low and dangerous, surprising Zoe into silence. He grimaced, covering the still-bleeding wound in his side, but pressed onwards. “I’ll always come and find him if he’s in trouble. Always. A few wee scratches won’t stop me, and he knows that.” Zoe fixed him with a stern look, but remained quiet. “He’s in danger, he’s probably terrified and trying tae hide it, and even he couldnae think of a way out of this one. I’m all he has right now. Either I rescue him, or I go down with him. I could never forgive myself if I just left him.” He doubled over, breathing hard. Zoe stared down at him, her mind clearly tearing itself in two. “Come on, Zoe. Ye know we need him.”

“We’d need to bind your wounds first,” she said thoughtfully.

“Aye, alright, I’ll let ye do that.”

“And come up with a plan. You couldn’t go in there blind.”

“Och, alright, so long as it’s quick.”

Zoe glanced over her shoulder again, checking that the workers were not listening. Finally, hesitantly, she nodded. “Alright. But you can’t possibly go chasing after the Doctor on your own, not when you’re half torn to shreds.”

“I won’t have to.” Jamie levered himself to his feet gingerly. Pain shot through his leg, but he managed to remain upright. “I know you’ll come with me.”

Her glare told him that he was right. “I hate you.”

“Aye, I know.”


End file.
